A University of Louisville professor is now back teaching after spending months in Sierra Leone and then self-monitoring for signs of Ebola.

Dr. Muriel Harris was born and raised in Sierra Leone. She moved to the United States in the 90s.

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While she was visiting the West African country, Ebola landed in the United States with the arrival of Thomas Eric Duncan from Liberia.

She said she was never exposed to Ebola, but she saw what it did to the country.

“When you arrive at the airport, you complete a surveillance form, which asks questions about exposure, said Harris.

Harris said her temperature was taken twice before she was allowed to leave Sierra Leone last month, and when she arrived at Washington Dulles airport, she was asked "how she felt.”

Doctor has been visiting her 93-year-old father from July to October in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The University of Louisville associate professor in the school of public health said she was never exposed to any Ebola patients, but had to take preventative measures while she was there.

“You walked out of the store. You walked to the store next door and your temperature was taken again. So it really didn't matter where your temperature was taken again,” said Harris.

Sierra Leone is one of the countries heavily hit. Nearly 5,000 people in West Africa have died as a result of the Ebola epidemic, according to the World Health Organization. Of that number, more than 1,500 people died in Sierra Leone.

The outbreak in the country started in May.

Harris originally returned to the University of Louisville on Tuesday, Oct. 14, but she was asked by the university to monitor herself from home.

“Until the 21 days after I left Sierra Leone had elapsed,” said Harris.

In a statement, a University of Louisville spokesperson said:

“We had no reason to believe that this faculty member or any of our faculty, staff and students were at risk. But it is our goal to address and alleviate any fears that had arisen out of this situation."

“People were afraid of something that they didn't understand and they didn't know, and they didn't take the trouble to find out anything about,” said Harris.

Harris warns that people should be "guided by science and not by fear.”

“The risk comes from actual physical contact and it's physical contact with somebody who is infected,” said Harris.

While in Sierra Leone, she developed a protocol on Ebola infection control in maternal health settings that she presented to UN women. She also gave a keynote address on gender mainstreaming to Ebola emergency response.

“I think what we need everywhere is a vigilant healthcare system. I don't think anything else is going to help,” said Harris.